27 May

Great British Light Orchestras and Great American Light Orchestras

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Two more CDs are being released by Guild this June in their "Golden Age of Light Music" series

Click to enlargeGreat British Light Orchestras

1 Honey Child (Joyce Cochrane, arr. Robert Farnon) QUEEN’S HALL LIGHT ORCHESTRA Conducted by ROBERT FARNON 2 Gypsy Fiddler (Raphael) RAY MARTIN AND HIS CONCERT ORCHESTRA 3 Carnavalito (Linda, Zaldiver) CYRIL STAPLETON AND HIS ORCHESTRA 4 Romantic Interlude (Clive Richardson) CHARLES WILLIAMS AND HIS CONCERT ORCHESTRA 5 Magic Circles (Ray Martin) GERALDO AND HIS NEW CONCERT ORCHESTRA 6 Oh Dear What Can The Matter Be (Trad., arr Frank Cordell) FRANK CORDELL AND HIS ORCHESTRA 7 Television March (Eric Coates) LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Conducted by ERIC COATES 8 April in Portugal (Ferrao) NORRIE PARAMOR AND HIS ORCHESTRA 9 Cactus Polka (Trad., arr. E.H. Plumb, G. Walter) MAYFAIR ORCHESTRA Conducted by WALTER GOEHR 10 Kashmiri Song – from "Four Indian Love Lyrics" (Amy Woodforde-Finden) MANTOVANI AND HIS CONCERT ORCHESTRA 11 Rainbow Run (Edy Mers) RON GOODWIN AND HIS CONCERT ORCHESTRA 12 Prelude To A Memory (Frank Chacksfield) FRANK CHACKSFIELD AND HIS ORCHESTRA 13 Goodwood Galop (Robert Farnon) QUEEN’S HALL LIGHT ORCHESTRA Conducted by ROBERT FARNON 14 The Roundabout (Edward White) NEW CONCERT ORCHESTRA Conducted by JACK LEON 15 Spring Morning (George Melachrino) MELACHRINO ORCHESTRA Conducted by GEORGE MELACHRINO 16 Songs My Mother Taught Me (Dvorak, arr. Peter Yorke) PETER YORKE AND HIS CONCERT ORCHESTRA 17 Sand In My Shoes (Victor Schertzinger) ROBERT FARNON AND HIS ORCHESTRA 18 Canadian Capers (Chandler, White, Cohen – arr. Angela Morley) SIDNEY TORCH AND HIS ORCHESTRA 19 Rhapsody In Rhythm (Henry Croudson) LOUIS VOSS AND HIS ORCHESTRA 20 The Jolly Brothers (Robert Vollstedt) RON GOODWIN AND HIS CONCERT ORCHESTRA 21 From Here To Eternity (Karger, Wells) STANLEY BLACK AND HIS ORCHESTRA 22 Parade Of The Clowns (David Rose) CHARLES WILLIAMS AND HIS CONCERT ORCHESTRA 23 One Summer Day (Reginald King) HARMONIC ORCHESTRA Conducted by HANS MAY 24 Ragamuffin (Joe Rixner) PHILIP GREEN AND HIS ORCHESTRA 25 Valencia (José Padilla) EDMUNDO ROS AND HIS ORCHESTRA 26 "Oklahoma!" Selection (Rodgers, Hammerstein II – arr. Sidney Torch) I Cain’t Say No, Oh What A Beautiful Mornin’, People Will Say We’re In Love, Surrey With The Fringe On Top, Out Of My Dreams, Oklahoma! SIDNEY TORCH AND HIS ORCHESTRA

GUILD LIGHT MUSIC GLCD5104

There has been a great response to the April release of the first three CDs in the new Guild Light Music series. RFS members have flooded our Record Service with demands for copies, and equally heartening has been the many messages from individual collectors offering to assist with tracks from their own prized 78s and LPs. These two new releases actually feature several numbers that are a direct result of the many offers of help that David Ades and Alan Bunting have received. Among the RFS members whose own records are on these CDs are John Fountain, Malcolm Powell, Stuart Sonley, Terry Viner and Ronnie Woodhouse; there are many more lined up in releases planned for later this year. Other members have assisted us by supplying names of ‘friendly’ broadcasters who are likely to feature these recordings in their programmes. By now they should have received their promotional copies, so hopefully many of you will already have heard some of these records ‘on the air’. New names to add to the list are always welcome, but please understand that it is expensive to send out promotional material, so only those people who will definitely be interested should be recommended.

Click to enlargeGreat American Light Orchestras

1 Fiddle Faddle (Leroy Anderson) LEROY ANDERSON AND HIS ‘POPS’ CONCERT ORCHESTRA 2 The Bad And The Beautiful – theme from the film (David Raksin) DAVID ROSE AND HIS ORCHESTRA 3 Brazilian Sleigh Bells (Percy Faith) PERCY FAITH AND HIS ORCHESTRA 4 Anna (Roman, Giordano, Godfrey) VICTOR YOUNG AND HIS ORCHESTRA 5 No Strings Attached (Richard Hayman) RICHARD HAYMAN AND HIS ORCHESTRA 6 Rain (Eugene Ford) PAUL WESTON AND HIS ORCHESTRA 7 Holiday In Rio (Terig Tucci) ACQUAVIVA AND HIS ORCHESTRA 8 Sophisticated Lady (Duke Ellington, arr. Morton Gould) MORTON GOULD AND HIS ORCHESTRA Violin Max Pollikoff 9 Marguerite Waltz (Meredith Willson) MEREDITH WILLSON AND HIS ORCHESTRA 10 Blue Violins (Ray Martin) HUGO WINTERHALTER AND HIS ORCHESTRA 11 No Other Love (Richard Rodgers) GORDON JENKINS AND HIS ORCHESTRA 12 Three O’clock In The Morning (Robledo, Terrliss) MONTY KELLY AND HIS ORCHESTRA 13 La Mer (Charles Trenet) MGM STUDIO ORCHESTRA Conducted by MACKLIN MARROW 14 If You Are But A Dream (Jaffe, Fulton, Bronx – adapted from ‘Romance’ by Rubinstein) FRANK DE VOL AND HIS ORCHESTRA 15 Satan And The Polar Bear (David Rose) DAVID ROSE AND HIS ORCHESTRA 16 Carriage Trade (Richard Hayman) RICHARD HAYMAN AND HIS ORCHESTRA 17 Tradewinds (David Carroll) DAVID CARROLL AND HIS ORCHESTRA 18 Manhattan Serenade (Louis Alter) ANDRE KOSTELANETZ AND HIS ORCHESTRA 19 The Cavalier’s Ball (Nicolas Acquaviva) ACQUAVIVA AND HIS ORCHESTRA 20 Tropicana (Bernie Wayne) MONTY KELLY AND HIS ORCHESTRA 21 Smoke Gets In Your Eyes (Jerome Kern) GORDON JENKINS AND HIS ORCHESTRA 22 Andalucia (Ernesto Lecuona, arr. Morton Gould) ROBIN HOOD DELL ORCHESTRA Conducted by MORTON GOULD 23 Dance of the Violins (Jeanjean) MGM STUDIO ORCHESTRA Conducted by MACKLIN MARROW 24 Tic-Tac-Toe (Lou Singer) HUGO WINTERHALTER AND HIS ORCHESTRA 25 Toyland Waltz – from "Babes in Toyland" (Victor Herbert) HARRY HORLICK AND HIS ORCHESTRA 26 Manhattan Masquerade (Louis Alter) PAUL WHITEMAN AND HIS ORCHESTRA

GUILD LIGHT MUSIC GLCD5105

When looking back over the history of recorded sound, and the involvement of British Light Orchestras in what has become known as the ‘Golden Age of Light Music’, there is a tendency to concentrate on the 1940s and 1950s. Indeed this was a period of great musical riches, as has already been touched upon in the three previous Guild CDs in this series. Possibly one of the main reasons for concentrating upon these two decades was due to the fact that sound recording had advanced to the stage where reproduction in the home was achieving satisfactory results, and the availability of new recordings (especially as the 1950s dawned) greatly increased the choice on offer.

In the USA light orchestras also featured on radio and records, and these two new CDs illustrate the wide diversity of glorious sounds that were at the command of record buyers over half a century ago. In the post-war years new microphones were making big improvements in sound quality, which certainly benefited orchestral recordings. Although the record players in domestic homes were relatively primitive compared with today’s magnificent sound reproduction systems, it is clear that the recordings themselves contained far more detail and warmth than may have been generally realised at the time. Modern sound restoration experts are now unearthing these riches from the depths of the dusty grooves.

For more information, and other recent reviews of these Guild Light Music CDs, please visit: www.guildmusic.com You can also order all Guild CDs via this website.

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About Geoff 123
Geoff Leonard was born in Bristol. He spent much of his working career in banking but became an independent record producer in the early nineties, specialising in the works of John Barry and British TV theme compilations.
He also wrote liner notes for many soundtrack albums, including those by John Barry, Roy Budd, Ron Grainer, Maurice Jarre and Johnny Harris. He co-wrote two biographies of John Barry in 1998 and 2008, and is currently working on a biography of singer, actor, producer Adam Faith.
He joined the Internet Movie Data-base (www.imdb.com) as a data-manager in 2001 and looked after biographies, composers and the music-department, amongst other tasks. He retired after nine years loyal service in order to continue writing.